Anti-WiFi Paint is Here

Clever minds at the University of Tokyo have invented a new paint that can block high-frequency wireless signals.

This is breakthrough technology for people concerned about Radio Frequency (RF) radiation, the type of non-ionizing radiation that cell phones, WiFi routers, smart utility meters, computers, laptops, tablets, and even baby monitors emit.

RF is everywhere you find cell towers. And that is just about everywhere you find people.

Wireless RF devices give off electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in the low-gigahertz frequencies at a level deemed possibly hazardous to humans. Unfortunately, “science has not yet determined a safe level of wireless radiation,” according to the Environmental Health Trust.

Some people have reported negative health symptoms from exposure to EMR, especially at close range and over long periods of time:

• Insomnia and sleep issues
• Headaches and head pain
• Tinnitus or ringing in the ears
• Lethargy and extreme tiredness
• Memory, fog, cognitive issues
• Burning, tingling, numbness

EMF radiation has been linked to problems with fertility, vision, headaches, and cancer tumors.

Since we know WiFi signals and EMF radiation can hurt us, making the walls of a room serve as a Farraday cage on steroids has a lot of appeal.

The new anti-WiFi paint from Japan contains particles of aluminum-iron oxide, a metal that, when added to the paint, resonates at the same frequency as WiFi and other similar radio bandwidths. This blocks the radio signals and stops them from passing through even a thin layer of coating.

This means that anti-WiFi-painted walls would not only keep other people’s WiFi signals out of your house but would effectively quarantine yours inside the painted area.

Ironically, WiFi-blocking wall paint is legal while electronic signal jammers are against the law. Commercial concessions may find wifi-blocking paint attractive, according to Shin-ichi Ohkoshi, the project lead, who explained:

“In a medical setting, you could transmit large volumes of data from a medical device, such as an endoscope, to a computer. You could block phone signals from outside and stop people’s phones ringing during the movie. By painting a solution containing our magnetic particles on the walls, you would quickly, and effectively, shield the room from stray electromagnetic radiation from outside.”

WiFi-blocking paint would also deter thieves from stealing your WiFi, slowing down your connectivity. As an added bonus, unmarked FBI surveillance vans (or police cars) would not be able to spy within your painted walls or attack you with WiFi technology weapons.

Hospitals, in particular, have responded to HIPAA patient information privacy requirements by developing high-tech WiFi networks for about the past ten years. Medical facilities commonly transmit voice and data traffic over WiFi frequencies. The new EMF-blocking paint could tighten up protected patient data from unwarranted theft.

In addition, sophisticated medical devices which use WiFi frequencies (or bands near them) can be shielded from disruptive interference and possible equipment malfunction by applying paint with metal bits in it to the walls and ceiling.

Critics of the wifi-blocking coating worry that emergency broadcasts and cell phone calls would be able to connect with devices within the painted enclosure.

EMR protection paint is now commercially available. One such product, Yshield EMF Paint, comes in black and applies well, according to a couple of satisfied customers/reviewers. The product is a “pure silicate paint based on potassium silicate” with no toxic ingredients.

Yshield promises “protection for frequencies all the way up to 18 GHz” and will be effective if and as technology raises RF frequencies higher and higher. A 5-liter bucket can be purchased online for just under $260.

Most current WiFi technologies operate between 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The Japanese researchers claim that their product can block frequencies as high as 100GHz. Furthermore, they are working on a paint capable of stopping 200GHz signals.

The married paint testers found two coats of Yshield EMF Paint to be “highly effective at protecting against high-frequency EMF, and low-frequency radio fields and microwaves.”

The black paint is overcoated with either a water-based emulsion paint or silicon resin paint. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

How can you be sure that a wall or other object (such as a smart meter) painted with an EMF-blocking paint is working? Get yourself a quality EMF meter to test the radiation levels.